Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Dignity in soapy water

What is it that you do on a daily basis that you think doesn't matter?

Or... what is it that you feel like you've done a hundred times and yet there is still more to do?

Lately, for me it's time in the kitchen... more specifically, washing dishes.

And that is including my husband's frequent help with them!

For some reason, I feel like there are always dishes to be washed.

I'm really starting to think God has a hidden agenda for me spending what I think is so much time in the kitchen.

Whether it is washing dishes, figuring out how to cook healthy food inexpensively, or re-organizing that Tupperware cabinet for the hundredth time, I'm convinced that the kitchen must be part of a woman's refinement of her soul.

This quote from Amy Carmichael reminds me that our Savior often spent time doing common things like eating.  He performed miracles more than once to provide food for people.  Clearly food is a high priority to Him.

How many dishes will I wash in my lifetime?  How many forks, spoons and knives will I place on the table over the course of the next 50 years?

God knows the number.  And it actually does matter to him.  But even more than the dishes being clean, and the forks being on the correct side of the plate, He is concerned about what expression is shown on my face in the process.


When you eat or drink or do anything else, always do it to honor God
- 1 Corinthians 10:31

If I can view my kitchen as a comfortable place right in my own home for me to grow closer to Him, then I should look forward to being there.

I may find strategies for reducing the number of dishes to wash, like asking my husband to drink from the same cup for a week (yes, I really did this), but... when I realize that washing dishes is an opportunity to glorify the Lord, there is a dignity in the soapy water.

God redeems the dirty dishes by allowing us to clean, to structure, to create, to serve and to organize.  In a very real way, working in my kitchen is exemplifying a tiny way of how God made us just a little bit like Himself.

And I think that is beyond my comprehension!

Here's to washing dishes tonight!

No comments:

What have you done with this quarantine time?

I’ll be blunt. This question has kind of driven me nuts the past few weeks. To be honest, we have done what we have always done. Worked ...